The Rejection-b

For a brief moment, something flickered in Kael’s eyes.

Regret.

It appeared so quickly I almost thought I imagined it. One crack in the cold mask he always wore before his expression hardened again, unreadable as stone.

The silence between us stretched painfully.

“Is that all?” I asked softly.

My voice barely sounded like mine. It was calm. Controlled. Like somewhere inside me, something had already broken beyond repair, leaving only pride behind.

Kael inhaled slowly.

“Sera, I—”

“Is that all, Alpha?”

The title hit harder than I intended.

Not Kael.

Alpha.

A distance placed deliberately between us.

I saw the way his jaw tightened at the word, but I refused to feel guilty for it.

After a long pause, he finally nodded.

“Yes,” he said quietly. “That’s all.”

I swallowed the ache rising in my throat and forced myself to nod back.

“Good.”

I turned toward the door.

“You’re not going to say anything else?”

His voice stopped me before I could leave. There was tension in it now, something strained beneath the calm.

I kept my hand on the iron handle without turning around.

“What exactly do you want me to say?” I asked quietly.

He didn’t answer immediately.

“I don’t know,” he admitted at last.

A bitter smile almost touched my lips.

“Neither do I.”

I opened the door.

“Goodnight, Alpha.”

Then I walked away.

I made it to the end of the eastern corridor before my strength finally gave out.

My back hit the wall, and I slowly slid to the floor.

The pain in my chest was unbearable.

It wasn’t just emotional pain. The broken mate bond left behind an emptiness so sharp it felt physical, like something had been violently torn out of me.

I curled my arms around myself, both hands resting protectively over my stomach.

Over our child.

The hallway around me remained quiet.

Somewhere in the distance, a door creaked open and shut. Someone laughed softly. Normal pack sounds carried through the house while my entire world collapsed in silence.

No one knew.

No one understood what had just happened.

I lowered my gaze to my stomach, my fingers trembling slightly.

“He doesn’t know,” I whispered.

The words echoed softly in the empty corridor.

For one dangerous second, I considered going back.

Telling him the truth.

Imagining the shock on his face when he realized I was carrying his child. Maybe he would regret rejecting me. Maybe he would take the words back.

But would it be because he loved me?

Or because he felt responsible?

The answer hurt more than the rejection itself.

I imagined staying in Ashveil, forced to watch Kael build a future with another woman while I raised his child nearby. I imagined my child growing up knowing her father had chosen someone else before she was even born.

The thought shattered something inside me.

Slowly, I lifted my head.

“No,” I whispered firmly.

The decision settled deep in my chest.

“He’ll never know.”

I took a shaky breath and pushed myself back to my feet. After wiping my face quickly, I walked back toward my room before the tears could finally break free.

I didn’t cry until the door closed behind me.

I packed in silence.

Only the essentials.

A few clothes. My documents. The framed picture of my mother from the bedside table. The small amount of money I had secretly saved over the years, though I never truly knew why.

Maybe some part of me had always been preparing for this night.

I moved quickly, afraid that if I stopped for even a second, I might lose the courage to leave.

A soft knock sounded at my door.

Three gentle taps.

I already knew who it was.

When I opened the door, Mila stood there in her pajamas, her curly hair messy around her shoulders. Her eyes were swollen red, like she had already been crying.

The moment she noticed the bag hanging from my shoulder, her face crumpled.

“You heard,” I said quietly.

“Everyone heard,” she whispered.

Pain tightened in her expression. “Sera… you can’t leave.”

“I have to.”

“Please stay. Fight for him.”

A sad smile touched my lips.

“There’s nothing left to fight for, Mila. He made his choice.”

“But if you just talk to him—”

“Mila.”

I gently took her hand and pressed a folded envelope into her palm before closing her fingers around it.

“Don’t open this until morning.”

She frowned down at it, confused.

“What is it?”

I forced myself to hold her gaze.

“Everything.”

Her chin trembled.

Tears filled her eyes again.

I squeezed her hand softly.

“I love you,” I whispered. “Take care of yourself.”

Before she could speak again, I kissed her cheek and stepped past her into the hallway.

“Sera…”

Her voice cracked behind me.

“Please don’t go.”

My chest tightened painfully, but I kept walking.

I didn’t stop.

I didn’t look back.